Ezekiel Mphahlele and Abiola Irele, editors. Black Orpheus.

A Journal of African and Afro-American Literature. No.18
Ibadan, Nigeria, For Mbari Club by Longmans of Nigeria, October 1965.

Small folio. Original pictorial wrappers.

An attractive issue of this seminal West African literary journal. Includes an article on ‘African Writers of the 18th century’.

“The steady development of Black Orpheus over the last seven years amounts to a remarkable achievement. It has succeeded in breaking the vicious circle that seems to inhibit the development of a proper reading public by its continued existence, by its very availability; more than that, it has also gone on to establish itself as one of the most important formative influences in modern African literature.…It can be said, without much exaggeration, that the founding of Black Orpheus, if it did not directly inspire new writing in English-speaking Africa, at least coincided with the first promptings of a new, modern, literary expression and re-inforced it by keeping before the potential writer the example of the achievements of the French-speaking and Negro American writers.” (Abiola Irele, editor, Journal of Modern African Studies). The magazine ceased publication in 1975.